Experienced group of Cedar Rapids Kernels arrives in town

CEDAR RAPIDS - The official announcement of the Cedar Rapids Kernels' opening-day roster Sunday was a blessing in many ways for one person.

Linda Mann helps set up players with housing families in the community. When 16 of the 25 guys already have experience playing here, that would seem to make her job a bit easier.

Just keep them with the people they lived with last season, for the most part.

'We've got a couple of families who aren't doing it this season, so I've got to talk to some of the players,” Mann said, as she greeted the Kernels upon their arrival from Minnesota Twins spring training Monday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

'Experienced” is definitely the first word that comes to mind when you look at this Kernels club. Cedar Rapids opens the Midwest League season Thursday night at home against Quad Cities.

Position players LaMonte Wade, Max Murphy, Chris Paul and Rafael Valera were lineup fixtures for the Kernels as they advanced to the deciding fifth game of the MWL Championship Series last season. Pitchers Sam Gibbons and Randy LeBlanc started games in that series, while Nick Anderson, John Curtiss and Michael Theofanopoulos threw important relief innings.

Others played varying roles at times during the regular season. It's flat-out surprising to see some of these guys returning, which is a sign of the strength of the Twins organization right now, Manager Jake Mauer said.

'You don't want to sound boastful, but, yeah, that's the reason,” he said. '(High-A) Fort Myers has a bunch of guys coming back, I think (Double-A) Chattanooga has a bunch of guys coming back, too. So it's really a nice situation that we are in as an organization where we are fairly deep from Triple-A on through. I'm not going to lie to you. There are a number of guys in our clubhouse that should probably be up, that either pitched or hit their way out of this league. But because of strength of organization, they are here. You try to convey to them that ‘You are here, don't feel bad. You've got to go after it, you've got to put up numbers.'”

Mauer said Paul will play a lot of third base for these Kernels, with 19-year-old Venezuelans Jermaine Palacios and Luis Arraez the up-the-middle infield combo at shorstop and second base, respectively, many days.

Palacios is ranked the Twins' No. 19 prospect, according to Baseball America. Returnees Sean Miller and Rafael Valera, and Zander Wiel are the team's other listed infielders, though Valera will play some at catcher, Mauer said.

Wade and Murphy will play outfield, as will newcomer Chris Cavananess and Jorge Fernandez, who played 56 games here last season before breaking his hand.

'We're going to find at-bats for everybody,” Mauer said. 'If you perform, I'm not an idiot, you're going to play.”

LeBlanc will get the opening-night start, with Gibbons, righties Dereck Rodriguez and Andro Cutura, and lefty Sam Clay also part of the rotation. Rodriguez is the son of former major league catching great Ivan 'Pudge” Rodriguez.

The bullpen should be lethal, with arms like Anderson, Curtiss, Theofanopoulos and others around. Mauer said Curtiss, in particular, was impressive in spring training.

Returning pitcher Michael Cederoth is listed on the opening-day roster but did not make the trip to Cedar Rapids because of an injury. He will be placed on the disabled list sometime in the next couple days, with a replacement coming in.

'Fair isn't necessarily a word you can use all the time in pro ball,” Mauer said. 'There are guys that, for whatever reason or situation, they go up, they go down. There are injuries. Your biggest thing is your attitude. You can't control what the front office decides. You can control what you think and how you react.

'It's OK for some of those guys to be disappointed to be here. I understand it, I get it. But it's not OK to sit and sulk and throw away the first week, two weeks, three weeks. Now you're in a hole, and it's going to be awfully hard to dig out of it. Then, too, there are a lot of other guys who are pushing the envelope. We left an awful lot of good kids behind that could very well be here. Competition is a good thing for your organization.”

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